“You misunderstood me. I mean that it is true that I lied to you.”
“你误会了。我是说，我真的对你撒谎了。”
“Yes,” she said. “That is true.”
“对，”她说，“这是真的。”
She wore no hat. Her head was thrown back as though in defiance. The sweep of her hair back from her face, the curve of her nostril suggested the figurehead of a ship plunging gallantly into a rough sea. In that moment she was beautiful.
她没戴帽子，头挑衅似的向后仰着。波浪似的梳向脑后的头发和鼻子的线条，让人想到乘风破浪驶入汹涌大海的船头雕像。那一瞬间，她很美。
“I wished to ask you, Mademoiselle, why you lied to us this morning?”
“我想问问你，小姐，今天上午你为什么要对我们撒谎？”
He saw her flinch for a moment and then recover herself.
他看见她退缩了一下，接着又镇定下来。
“Well, of course, that is true. And now, Mademoiselle, may I ask you the reason for these evasions?”
“哦，当然，这倒是。那么，小姐，能否问问你隐瞒的原因呢？”
“You are at least frank, Mademoiselle.”
“起码你很坦率，小姐。”
“You concealed the fact that at the time of the Armstrong tragedy you were actually living in the house. You told me that you had never been in America.”
“你隐瞒了一个事实，即阿姆斯特朗惨剧发生的时候，你正住在他们家。但你告诉我你从未去过美国。”
Her eyes went to Arbuthnot for a minute — just a minute. She said to Poirot: “You wished to see me?”
她看了阿巴思诺特一眼——就一眼，然后转向波洛说：“你想见我？”
“Lied to you? I don’t know what you mean.”
“对你们撒谎？我不明白你的意思。”
“Ah, you admit it?”
“啊，你承认了？”
Her lips curved into a smile. “Certainly. Since you have found me out.”
她的嘴角挤出一丝微笑。“当然，既然你已经发现了。”
“No, Mademoiselle, it was false.”
“不，小姐，是假的。”
“There does not seem anything else for me to be.”
“似乎也没有别的选择了。”
“It does not leap to mine, Mademoiselle.”
“对我来说不明显，小姐。”
She said in a quiet, even voice with a trace of hardness in it: “I have my living to get.”
她的语气平静中带有一些坚硬：“我得生活。”
“I should have thought the reason leapt to the eye, M. Poirot?”
“我认为原因很明显，波洛先生。”
“I do not see why not — if no blame attached to you.”
“我不明白为什么不会——如果你没有责任的话。”
“You mean –?”
“你是说——”
She shrugged her shoulders.
她耸耸肩。
“Oh, blame — it is not blame — it is publicity! So far, M. Poirot, I have succeeded in life. I have had well-paid, pleasant posts. I was not going to risk the position I had attained when no good end could have been served.”
“哦，责任——不是责任——是报纸的宣传！迄今为止，波洛先生，我生活得还算顺利。收入很高，工作也很愉快。我不会因为不好的事而失去现在的工作。”
She raised her eyes and looked him full in the face. “How much do you know, M. Poirot, of the fight to get and keep decent employment? Do you think that a girl who had been detained in connection with a murder case, whose name and perhaps photographs were reproduced in the English papers — do you think that any nice ordinary middle-class Englishwoman would want to engage that girl as governess to her daughters?”
她抬起眼帘，直视波洛的脸。“你要知道，波洛先生，争得一份过得去的工作有多难？你觉得一个涉嫌谋杀而被拘留的女孩，一个名字也许还有照片被刊登在英国报纸上的女孩——你觉得有哪个普通的中产阶级主妇会请这样的女孩当她女儿的家庭教师？”
“I will venture to suggest, Mademoiselle, that I would have been the best judge of that, not you.”
“恕我冒昧地提议，小姐，我才是最好的裁判，而不是你。”
“Is it possible, Mademoiselle, that you did not recognize in the Countess Andrenyi Mrs. Armstrong’s young sister whom you taught in New York?”
“你可能没有认出安德雷尼伯爵夫人，就是你在纽约教过的阿姆斯特朗太太的妹妹？”
“For instance, you could have helped me in the matter of identification.”
“比如，关于身份这件事，你能帮助我们。”
“What do you mean?”
“什么意思？”
“Countess Andrenyi? No.” She shook her head. “It may seem extraordinary to you, but I did not recognize her. She was not grown up, you see, when I knew her. That was over three years ago. It is true that the Countess reminded me of someone — it puzzled me. But she looks so foreign — I never connected her with the little American schoolgirl. It is true that I only glanced at her casually when coming into the restaurant car. I noticed her clothes more than her face –” she smiled faintly –“women do! And then — well, I had my own preoccupations.”
“安德雷尼伯爵夫人？没有。”她摇摇头，“也许你觉得很不寻常——可我不认识她。你瞧，我教她的时候她还没长大。那是多年前的事了。伯爵夫人确实让我想起了某个人，这让我很困惑。但是她的样子像个外国人——我从来没把她跟那个小小的美国女学生联系起来。我只是走进餐车时偶然瞥过她一眼，况且更多的是看她的衣服，而不是脸。”她淡淡一笑，“女人就是这样！之后——嗯——我有自己的事要做。”
She said in a low voice: “I can’t — I can’t.”
她低声说：“我不能——我不能。”
Poirot’s voice was very gentle and persuasive.
波洛的声音温和又有说服力。
“You will not tell me your secret, Mademoiselle?”
“你不会告诉我你的秘密，是吗，小姐？”
And suddenly, without warning she broke down, dropping her face down upon her outstretched arms and crying as though her heart would break.
突然，毫无预兆地，她崩溃了，整个脸埋进伸出的手臂中大哭起来，心都快碎了似的。
“I — look here –“
“我——听我说——”
“Monsieur,” protested M. Bouc.
“先生。”布克先生抗议道。
The Colonel sprang up and stood awkwardly beside her.
上校跳起来，不知所措地站在她身旁。
“I’ll break every bone in your damned body, you dirty little whippersnapper,” he said.
“该死的，我要把你身上的骨头都打碎！你这个卑鄙无耻的小矮子！”他说。
He stopped and, turning round, scowled fiercely at Poirot.
他停住了，猛地转过身，怒视着波洛。
She sprang up. “It’s nothing. I’m all right. You don’t need me any more, do you, M. Poirot? If you do, you must come and find me. Oh, what an idiot — what an idiot I’m making of myself!” She hurried out of the car.
她跳起来。“没关系，我很好。你不再需要留下我了，是吗，波洛先生？如果需要的话，你可以过来找我。哦，我真是个傻瓜——我就是个大傻瓜！”她匆匆离开了餐车。
Arbuthnot had turned back to the girl. “Mary — for God’s sake –“
阿巴思诺特转向姑娘。“玛丽——看在上帝的分上——”
“I like to see an angry Englishman,” said Poirot. “They are very amusing. The more emotional they feel the less command they have of language.”
“我喜欢看生气的英国人，”波洛说，“他们很有趣，越激动越不会表达。”
Arbuthnot, before following her, turned once more on Poirot. “Miss Debenham’s got nothing to do with this business — nothing, do you hear? And if she’s worried and interfered with, you’ll have me to deal with.” He strode out.
随后，阿巴思诺特再次转向波洛。“德贝纳姆小姐跟这个案子一点关系也没有——完全无关，你听到了吗？如果你让她为难或者干扰她，我可是什么都干得出来！”他大步走了出去。
But M. Bouc was not interested in the emotional reactions of Englishmen. He was overcome by admiration of his friend.
但是布克先生对英国人的情绪反应毫无兴趣。他对他的朋友佩服得五体投地。
“Oh, I claim no credit this time. It was not a guess. Countess Andrenyi practically told me.”
“哦，这一次，我觉得都是理所应当的。这不是猜测。其实是安德雷尼伯爵夫人告诉我的。”
“Exactly. A tall, middle-aged woman with red hair — in fact, the exact opposite in every respect of Miss Debenham, so much so as to be quite remarkable. But then she had to invent a name quickly, and there it was that the unconscious association of ideas gave her away. She said Miss Freebody, you remember.”
“正是。一个红头发的高个子中年女人——实际上，在各个方面都跟德贝纳姆小姐正好相反。为的是造成一个明显的反差。但是那时她得立刻编一个名字，她无意识的联想让她露出了马脚。你们记得，她说的是小姐。”
“Possibly more loyalty. It makes things a little difficult.”
“可能更多的是忠诚。这让事情有点难办了。”
“You remember I asked her about her governess or companion? I had already decided in my mind that if Mary Debenham were mixed up in the matter, she must have figured in the household in some such capacity.”
“你还记得吗，我问她教师或女伴的事？我已经认定假如玛丽·德贝纳姆小姐跟本案有关，那她肯定在他们家中担任类似的某个工作。”
“Yes, but the Countess Andrenyi described a totally different person.”
“没错，可安德雷尼伯爵夫人描述的是一个完全不同的人啊。”
“It is incredible how you think of these things,” said Dr. Constantine admiringly.
“你是怎么想出来这些的，太不可思议了。”医生钦佩地说。
“That is yet another lie. Why did she do it?”
“这是另一个谎言。她为什么这么做？”
“Eh bien, you may not know it, but there is a shop in London that was called, until recently, Debenham & Freebody. With the name Debenham running in her head, the Countess clutches at another name quickly, and the first that comes is Freebody. Naturally I understood immediately.”
“好吧，可能你们不知道，直到不久前，在伦敦还有家商店名叫德贝纳姆·弗里博迪。因为脑子里一直想着德贝纳姆这个名字，伯爵夫人得立刻抓住另外一个名字，第一个跳进她脑海中的就是弗里博迪。当然我马上就明白了。”
“Mon cher, vous êtes épatant,” he cried. “Another miraculous guess. C’est formidable.”
“亲爱的，你太了不起了！”他大喊，“又一个神奇的猜测。”
“Yes?”
“是啊？”
“Ma foi,” said M. Bouc with violence. “But does everybody on this train tell lies?”
“哎呀！”布克先生愤然说道，“可是，火车上人人都在撒谎吗？”
“Comment? Surely not?”
“怎么？不是吧？”
“That,” said Poirot, “is what we are about to find out.”
“这一点，”波洛说，“正是我们要弄明白的。”
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